Technical Information for Programmers
This page is a reference on the files found in Purple Moon's games. We hope that it will be of use to anyone who wants to try datamining or modding them. Rockett Series School, Tricky, Invitiation, Dance The four visual novels' main game files are stored in a RESOURCE folder on their respective disks. The resources for scenes and choice screen animatics, as well as the title sequences, menu screens, backpack, and hidden hallway are stored on the first level, while resources pertaining to individual characters' locker items are stored in a separate folder labeled "IDL" and named an abreviated version of the name of the character they pertain to. (e.g. "ARNO" for Arnold, "ROCK" for Rockett, etc.) The files for the teachers' lounge or cubbies are all in one file ("TEAC"), as are truth glasses screen resources in later games ("IDGLASS"). There is also what is assumed to be a general resource file ("GEN") and an unknown "MATRIX" file in later games. Images and audio files are stored in PRS or PRX files. These appear to be proprietary file formats used by Presage Software, the company that developed the games for Purple Moon. '' New School'' and Tricky Decision use PRS files, while Secret Invitation and'' First Dance'' uses PRX files exclusively. PRS and PRX are archives; the same as the ZIP or RAR files more commonly found around the Internet. The graphics and sound files for the games are contained within them and must be unpacked to be viewed. But because they are properietary formats, only Presage has the official tools to do this. Programs like WinZip, WinRAR, or 7-Zip do not work. PRS files are always accompanied by an identially named PRD file. These appear to be metadata files and are also a proprietary format. Examining a PRX scene file from First Dance (specifically: SCENE1.PRX) in a hex editor (HxD Hex Editor) revealed that it appears to have the same structure as PRX files from Lode Runner 2, another Presage Software game from 1998. Two members of the LR2 community, Anthony Kozar and Toastline, have created documentation on PRX file structure as well as several command-line utilities for extracting and converting the files within them. Some quick tests indicate that they don't work with First Dance's files. Though it was not extensive. (The utilities tested were the image and audio extractor, and the file lister. All three crashed on runtime in Windows 8, with the image extractor creating a blank debug text file. They also occasionally displayed a "no sound device" error.) Decoded text from the hex editor, while mostly random characters, revealed reoccurring instances of "smf", "vlx", and "vlz", along with the occasional full English word. ("EMBARASSED" and "FUNNY") "smf" could be a serif metafile (SMF), a graphical file format used by DrawPlus, a 2D vector image editor and animator. VLX and VLZ seem to be AutoCAD files according to Google. But this may or may not be the case. A character file (ARNO.PRX, specifically) contains XPK, XMV, AIF, and TXT files. TXT files are basic text files. This could mean that the writing in locker messages, notebooks, etc. are separate from the background images (pieces of paper, notebook pages, etc.). AIF is a AIFF sound file with a header. XPK is a graphics file type. XMV is a movie file type. These file types are also used in Lode Runner 2. The PRD files in New School and Tricky Decision also have multiple references to XPK and AIF files. Along wtih what appears to be a CLU and a DIB file. Resources *[http://www.anthonykozar.net/loderunner/ Anthony Kozar's Lode Runner 2 page] Category:Technical Stuff Category:Help